Thankfully, today’s strip see’s the end of Funky and Holly’s ridiculous and pointless road trip. Unfortunately, panel 3 seems to be foreshadowing a fate worse than Montoni’s pizza for dinner… alumni band practice, no doubt involving Lefty and Dinkle. This relatively innocuous strip is, unfortunately, a likely calm before the storm.

Sometimes with this strip, you think there can be nowhere to go but up. That is NEVER the case, though. Never allow yourself to think that this strip cannot get worse. It has too deep bench of characters and recurring settings that you fear seeing to ever expect improvement, the immortal Dinkle and his non-retirement being chief among them.

He’s really doing it, he’s really going to combine marching band gags with his love of obnoxious joyless old coots. I’ve said it before, I will say it again: if they do a comic book-themed band routine followed by pizza at Montoni’s it very well might be my breaking point. I mean what’s left? A chemotherapy-themed comic strip printed on pizza boxes? A marching band routine where everyone loses an arm? A crabby old bus driver running over a “bouncing Betty” land mine? A combination “Lisa’s Legacy” signing/comic book themed mass wedding? After all these years we might be closing in on the absolute nadir here.

Then Les can write a book about it, followed by a prequel and a sequel, illustrated by Darin and inked by Mindy and financed by Pete selling his Flash dolly to Owen who re-sells it to pay for Alex’s engagement ring and their pizza-themed wedding that takes place in the gazebo during a blizzard. This crap writes itself!

Of course not – it will be at halftime of Westview’s first game (assuming, of course, that there aren’t so many “no-football moms” that they cancel the season, which would probably be considered a Good Thing as it means More Money For Girls’ Sports), and of course it would be in weather that’s just short of a hurricane

Number Six: Where am I?
Number Two (not identified as yet): In the village.
Six: What do you want?
Two: Information.
Six: Whose side are you on?
Two: That would be telling. We want information…information… information!!!
Six: You won’t get it!
Two: By hook or by crook, we will.
Six: Who are you?
Two: The new Number Two.
Six: Who is Number One?
Two: You are Number Six.
Six (running on the Village’s beach): I am not a number; I am a free man!!!
Two: [Laughter]